The invention relates to a device for emitting high- frequency signals, having a signal generation unit, a signal line, an emission cable, and an antenna embodied as a circular waveguide, which is terminated in an end region by a rear wall, wherein the signal generation unit generates the high-frequency signals, and the signal line carries the high- frequency signals to the emission cable of the antenna, and the emission cable protrudes into the circular waveguide and is disposed approximately parallel to the rear wall.
A device of the type described above is used for instance in measuring instruments that determine the fill level of a product in a container by way of the transit time of high-frequency signals. Transit time methods utilize the physical law according to which the transit path is equal to the product of transit time and propagation speed. In the case of fill level measurement, the transit path is twice the distance between the antenna and the surface of the product. The useful echo signal, that is, the signal reflected by the surface of the product, and its transit time are determined from the so-called echo function and from the digitized envelope curve; the envelope curve represents the amplitudes of the echo signals as a function of the distance between the antenna and the surface of the product. The fill level itself is then obtained from the difference between the known spacing between the antenna and the bottom of the container and the spacing, determined by the measurement, between the surface of the product and the antenna.
Typical methods for distance determination by way of the transit time of electromagnetic signals are the pulse radar method and the frequency modulation continuous wave radar (FMCW) method. In the pulse radar method, short microwave pulses are periodically transmitted. In the FMCW method, a continuous microwave is transmitted, which is periodically frequency-modulated linearly, for instance by a sawtooth function. The frequency of the received echo signal, compared to the frequency that the transmitted signal has at the instant it is received has the frequency difference, which depends on the transit time of the echo signal. The frequency difference between the transmitted signal and the received signal, which can be obtained by mixing the two signals and evaluating the Fourier spectrum of the mixed signal, is thus equivalent to the spacing of the reflector, such as the surface of the product, from the antenna. Moreover, the amplitudes of the spectral lines of the frequency spectrum, obtained by Fourier transformation, are equivalent to the echo amplitudes, so that the Fourier spectrum represents the echo function.
The propagation of electromagnetic waves in the signal line and in the antenna obeys the laws of physics that apply to the propagation of electromagnetic waves. Typically, the signal line is a coaxial cable. Via a buncher, the electromagnetic waves are carried from the inner conductor of the coaxial cable to the emission cable of the antenna. The antenna is embodied as either a rectangular or a circular waveguide, and in the region of the fill level measurement, antennas of circular cross section are preferentially used, since they are better suited to being built into the neck. for instance, of a container (tank, silo, etc.) than are antennas of rectangular cross section.
In a coaxial cable, the transversal electromagnetic mode (TEM mode) propagates without dispersion in the ideal case. This TEM mode is therefore especially well suited for transporting wave packets or electromagnetic waves that have a certain bandwidth. Wave packets that propagate by the TEM mode accordingly experience no widening; in the same way, in linear frequency-modulated microwaves, a deviation in linearity is largely avoided.
For directionally emitting electromagnetic waves by means of an antenna, a mode is preferably used whose broadcast characteristic has a pronounced forward lobe. The transversal-electrical basic mode or TE11 mode, which is capable of propagation in circular waveguides, has this property. In a rectangular waveguide, the corresponding basic mode is the TE10 mode. Depending on the dimensions of the antenna embodied as a waveguide, there is a defined frequency range within which only this basic mode is capable of propagation. Above this frequency range, even higher modes that are not so well suited for directional transmission of microwaves propagate, such as the TM01 mode for the circular waveguide or the TE20 mode in the rectangular waveguide. While the range of nonambiguity, that is, the range in which only the basic mode is capable of propagation, in a rectangular waveguide is relatively wide, the range of nonambiguity for a circular waveguide is relatively narrow. The likelihood that when broadband signals are input, not only the basic mode but undesired higher modes will also be excited is therefore substantially higher in a circular waveguide than in a rectangular waveguide. One unwanted consequence of the development of different modes is known as ringing. The cause of this ringing is that the individual modes that are capable of propagation in a waveguide have different propagation speeds. This is demonstrated by the fact that the transmission pulse does not drop abruptly but rather slowly loses amplitude. This edge of the bell can cover the echo signal in the measurement range, or overlap with the echo signal, to such an extent that major errors in the measured value occur.
The object of the invention is to propose a device for emitting electromagnetic waves that is distinguished by an optimized broadcast characteristic.
This object is attained in that the spacing between the emission cable and the rear wall of the antenna is approximately lambda/6, where lambda is the wavelength of the high-frequency signals carried in the waveguide. While until now in the literature the opinion was always expressed that the emission cable must be spaced apart from the rear wall of the antenna by approximately lambda/4, if optimal adaptation and propagation of the electromagnetic waves in the basic mode is to be assured, it has now been demonstrated that with the disposition according to the invention of the emission cable in the circular waveguide, the field components of the TM01, mode can largely be mutually compensated for. It has been demonstrated that by the device according to the invention, the frequency range in which only the TE11 mode is excited is increased by several hundred megahertz. As a result, it is possible to input transmission signals with a bandwidth of greater than 2 GHz into a circular waveguide without causing the problematic ringing. By means of the device of the invention, the impedance adaptation between the signal line and the antenna can moreover be optimized over a wide frequency range, and optimized adaptation means that as much energy as possible is transmitted from the signal line to the antenna; the proportion of the electromagnetic signals that are reflected because of jumps in impedance in the transmission path is consequently minimal.
The shortened structure of the antenna naturally has multiple favorable effects. This shortened structure is made possible by the fact that according to the invention, the emission cable is at a shortened distance from the rear wall of the antenna, compared to the prior art: On the one hand, the shortening reduces the costs of material; on the other, the shorter structure also reduces the ringing, since the different propagation speeds of the various modesxe2x80x94if they even occur at all anymorexe2x80x94have an effect over a shortened transit distance.
It has also proved to be advantageous to dimension the emission cable as at least half as large as half the diameter of the antenna embodied as a circular waveguide. Mathematically, this can be expressed by the following formula: Lxe2x89xa7D/2, where D characterizes the diameter of the circular waveguide. By means of this dimensioning of the emission cable, the impedance adaptation and the dispersion-free transmission of the electromagnetic waves can be optimized further.
An additional improvement in the transmission performance is attained in that according to an advantageous refinement of the device of the invention, a mushroom transmitter is disposed in the region of the free end of the emission cable.
In an advantageous refinement of the device of the invention, it is proposed that the interior of the antenna be at least partly filled with a dielectric material. This achieves a process separation. A process separation is necessary especially whenever there is a risk that the antenna and in particular the emission cable will come into contact with aggressive materials. The formation of deposits on the emission cable, which would cause a change in the transmission characteristic of the antenna, is naturally prevented as well.
Thus a preferred feature of the device of the invention provides a recess, into which the emission cable protrudes, in the dielectric material.
Preferably, the dielectric material is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or aluminum trioxide (Al2O3). It is understood that still other dielectric materials can also be used.
As already noted several times, the device of the invention is preferably used in conjunction with a measuring instrument that ascertains the fill level by way of the transit time of electromagnetic waves.